RE:RE:RE:April President's Report I agree with everything you stated and then some. The following is from Bloomberg today.
And for all the talk about the green transition, we got another reminder this morning of how important the oil and gas industry is for Canada's economy: Statistics Canada noted that energy exports jumped to a record $15.4 billion in February. And it wasn't just a price-driven story: crude oil shipments in volume terms rose 3.9 per cent. Overall, Canada's trade surplus with the world narrowed to $2.7 billion from $3.1 billion in January.
A deflated dollar helps with exports, but that would require us to be competitive in that front. We are an exporting country that hardly has a trade surplus and it is narrowing... with $100 oil. If you took out a couple SAGD plants, Canada would be an net importer. Automotive production, commodities, and services in general are not keeping up with US productivity or Canadian population growth. If you want the nuts and bolts of why the CAD is where it is, it's because GDP/capita has fallen almost every year since 2014 while the US went up 23% in that time. In order for GDP/capita to grow, which is the real indicator of quality of life, activity must go up with population.
I used to work in automotive manufacturing in Ontario. It's a giant make work program to keep the jobs it has. In Windsor, GM Trim and the transmission plant shut down, Ford Casting plant, and numerous other major manufacturers went stateside or to Mexico.
I shutdown the Oshawa truck plant that built the Silverado, back in 2009. It's back open but in a minor capacity. The Oshawa car plant is winding down right now. Toyota, and Honda both haven't really grown operations here with the success of their global business. Chrysler's Brampton plant is in trouble. It just seems like Canada is a country of struggling businesses or gang busters in construction.
The economy is losing competitiveness and struggling to attract capital investment flows. RE boom is hurting that even more (can't open a plant in Ontario that competes with NY, Ohio or Michigan because cost of living is so much higher).
I don't care who is in power, I just wish for them to work on Canada being globally competitive in any industry we want to have a long term future and if we are going to try to break into somewhere, we better have a structural advantage. Every country in the world isn't going to manufacture and be a leader in renewables. One country will be the winner in that game due to their manufacturing advantage alone.